History
Obscure has been around since about 1993 or so, and online since 1995. The Obscure website started back in the days of Netscape version 1 - using a crusty old Mac and Teachtext to put together pages.
After a couple of out there rock gigs, things really started with a seminal event called Psychic Droid, along with Andy Pickering who now edits Remix...
A few months later Andy and Psi opened a club called Biosphere. Biosphere ran for three months or so before the inetivable burnout of both punters and cashflow. Fond memories though.
Parties:
You can find complete history at Funpoison.com
More recently, The Visit, featuring Cristian Vogel, Bang Psurkit, and the rest of the Psurkit series, Hexanaut, PRG, Aspera (with Halogen), Skankatronics (Pure Wellingtronika)
The Obscure website started back in the days of Netscape version 1 - using a crusty old Mac and Teachtext to put together pages.
News and info on the Welly scene went up, maybe weekly or fortnightly. It was pretty primitive. But so was everything back then.
The addition of a video camera led to a huge collection of thumbnail pics over the next couple of years. UK based DJ magazine featured us in one of their early internet columns. Cool!
Skankatronics
Around that time Lily Star came on board, the Skankatronics gigs and CD happened, we were updating daily, with pics and gossip. We also opened the Psurkit mailing list, the first dance list in NZ.
Psurkit was a wild ride, almost killed our pal's mailserver. One day we decided to kill it, cos it was just getting too noisy. The next day a new, invite only list called Psecret started - and still runs to this day - where the old and crusty of the NZ scene get together, gossip and chat about the rugby.
Fun Poison
Around the end of the 90's, start of the Noughties Obscure via Larry Loontoonz and Psi ran the Fun Poison series - Ten events in all, themed around a custom commissioned Simon Morse death skull.
Starting out small at the Valve Bar, then jaunting to Osaka and Brighton, FP ended up packing out Studio Nine with and creating out Tokyo connection thru Phil Sueme and Mayuri. Ange and Audrey aka The Stereonasties were regular partners in crime, and since her trip to NZ Mayuri has reciprocated fantastically by letting us snean in to her incredible annual Metamorphose festival in Tokyo.
The final FP was an unforgettable, epic jetliner and road trip to Queenstown with the combined Obscure and FP, Stereonasties, S-ence, Zueei and Bassnation crews.
UR-NZ
Obscure arrange for them to enter the country, perform two gigs, and in the outskirts of Wellington undertake a mentoring programme with at-risk youth in the community. This was a major success for us, we succeeded in directly mentoring nearly 100 teenagers in Wainui, Stokes Valley, Petone, and Wellington city, as well as bringing Underground Resistance (who have been a major influence on us) to New Zealand for the first and possibly only time.
Current Status
Obscure is operated out of Queenstown and Sydney with a network of agents throughout the country and roaming offshore. We also run a number of back-channel mail lists connecting the movers in NZ music. Ask us about these if you're interested.
Other players, shouts and respect
Larry, Masif, Splsash, Juice / Smiley, Eden / S-Ence, Coda, Zero, Omar, Mark Cubey, Soft, http://www.radioactive.fm, Flipside (RIP), Mu, The Roots Foundation, Bassnation / John Goosebump, Discotek, The Gathering (RIP), Entrain, Remix, Espressoholic, Shihad, Stereonasties, Karen Zueei, Mayuri Fastback, Geof and Penny, Midnight / Havana, The Matterhorn, UR, Uncle Robbie, The Psecret Foundation, D-Wire (Respect).
Fallen Soldiers, never forgotten.
Jason, Gerald, Sueme.
